Credit Card Promotions

That 0% balance transfer doesn't last forever. If you're not tracking when promotional rates expire and where your payments go, you risk a sudden jump in interest charges. Doughsense helps you stay ahead by tracking promotional segments, managing transfer offers, and showing exactly how your payments are allocated. This guide builds on the portfolio concepts in Managing Your Finances.

Understanding Promotional Rates

What are Promotional Rates?

Promotional rates are special interest rates applied to portions of your credit card debt for a limited time. Common examples include:

• 0% APR on purchases - New purchases don't accrue interest for 12-18 months
• 0% balance transfers - Transferred balances have no interest for 12-21 months
• Reduced rate offers - Temporary lower rates like 2.9% for 6 months

Why Track Them Separately?

Credit cards apply different interest rates to different portions of your balance. By tracking promotional segments separately, Doughsense can:

• Calculate accurate interest charges in projections
• Alert you before promotional rates expire
• Help you optimise payment strategies
• Recommend balance transfer opportunities

Adding Promotional Segments

Step 1: Navigate to Your Credit Card

1. Go to the Portfolio tab
2. Find your credit card in the Liabilities section
3. Click on the card to edit it

Step 2: Add Promotional Rates

1. Expand the Promotional Rates section
2. Click Add Promotional Balance
3. Enter the following details:
   • Amount: The balance at this promotional rate
   • Rate: The promotional interest rate (e.g., 0% for 0% APR)
   • Expires: The date when the promotional rate ends
   • Description: Optional note (e.g., "Balance transfer from Visa")
4. Click Save

Example: Setting Up a New Card

If you've just opened a card with a £3,000 balance transfer at 0% for 18 months:

1. Total Balance: £3,000
2. Add Promotional Segment:
   • Amount: £3,000
   • Rate: 0%
   • Expires: 18 months from today
   • Description: "Initial balance transfer"

The card will show:

• Standard Balance: £0 (at regular APR)
• Promotional Balance: £3,000 (at 0%)

Understanding Payment Allocation

How Payments are Applied

When you make a payment to a credit card with promotional segments, Doughsense follows industry-standard allocation rules:

1. Standard balance first - Payments reduce the highest-rate balance first
2. Promotional segments by expiry - Then applied to promotional balances expiring soonest
3. Remaining promotional segments - Finally to other promotional balances

Example Payment Waterfall

Consider a card with:

• £2,000 standard balance at 24% APR
• £1,500 promotional balance expiring March (0%)
• £1,000 promotional balance expiring June (0%)

A £2,500 payment would be applied:

1. £2,000 to standard balance → £0 remaining
2. £500 to March promotional → £1,000 remaining
3. June promotional unchanged → £1,000 remaining

New balance: £2,000 (all at 0% APR)

Managing Balance Transfer Offers

Adding Transfer Offers

Track available balance transfer offers to optimise your debt management:

1. Edit your credit card in the Portfolio tab
2. Expand the Balance Transfer Offers section
3. Click Add Transfer Offer
4. Enter offer details:
   • Available Amount: Credit limit for transfers
   • Promotional Rate: The offer rate (usually 0%)
   • Period: How many months the rate lasts
   • Transfer Fee: Percentage fee (typically 2-3%)
   • Received Date: When you got the offer
   • Expiry Date: When the offer expires
   • Transfer Type: Balance Transfer or Money Transfer
   • Excluded Cards: Cards you can't transfer from

Transfer Types Explained

• Balance Transfer: Direct transfer from another credit card
• Money Transfer: Cash advance to your bank account (usually higher fees)

Tracking Exclusions

Some offers exclude transfers from cards issued by the same bank. Add these exclusions to ensure accurate transfer recommendations.

Optimising Your Promotional Strategy

Monitor Promotional Health

The Promotional Health metric in your Portfolio provides a comprehensive score (0-100) of how well you're managing promotional rates:

• 80-100: Excellent - Maximising promotional benefits
• 60-79: Good - Some optimisation opportunities
• 40-59: Needs Attention - Action recommended soon
• 0-39: Critical - Urgent action required

Key Indicators to Watch

1. Days Until Expiry: Time remaining on promotional rates
2. Transfer Capacity: Available credit for balance transfers
3. Standard Balance Ratio: Percentage of debt at standard rates
4. Optimisation Opportunities: Potential savings from transfers

Staying on Top of Promotions

1. Set calendar reminders 60 days before any promotional rate expires
2. Check for new transfer offers each month
3. Pay off standard balances first since they carry the highest rates
4. Allow 2-3 weeks for balance transfers to complete
5. Always include the transfer fee when comparing offers against the interest you'd save

Transfer Optimisation

When to Transfer

Consider a balance transfer when:

• A promotional rate expires in 30-60 days
• You have available transfer offers
• The transfer fee is less than interest you'd pay
• You can pay off the balance during the new promotional period

How Doughsense Finds the Best Transfer

Doughsense automatically calculates the best transfer strategy by:

1. Identifying expiring promotional segments
2. Evaluating available transfer offers
3. Calculating annualised costs (including fees)
4. Recommending optimal allocations to minimise cost

Understanding Recommendations

When viewing transfer recommendations, Doughsense shows:

• Allocation Amount: How much to transfer to each offer
• Transfer Fee: One-time cost of the transfer (typically 2-3%)
• Annualised Cost: The effective annual rate including fees - lower is better

The system optimises transfers by minimising the annualised cost, ensuring you get the best value from available offers. To understand the full financial impact, use your timeline projections to compare scenarios with and without the transfer.

Projections with Promotional Rates

How Projections Work

Your financial projections accurately model promotional rates:

1. Interest Calculations: Each segment accrues interest at its own rate (promotional segments typically 0%)
2. Promotional Expiry: Automatically transitions expired segments to standard rate
3. Payment Allocation: Follows the payment waterfall (standard first, then promotional by expiry)
4. Transfer Opportunities: Highlights optimisation points before promotions expire

Timeline Events

Key events appear in your timeline:

• Promotional Expiry: When rates revert to standard
• Transfer Deadlines: Last date to initiate transfers
• Payment Milestones: When segments will be paid off

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Promotional segments exceed total balance

• Ensure promotional amounts sum to less than or equal to total balance
• The difference becomes your standard balance

Transfer recommendations not appearing

• Check that transfer offers are marked as "Available"
• Ensure offer expiry dates haven't passed
• Verify excluded cards are correctly set

Interest still showing on 0% balance

• Confirm promotional segments are correctly entered
• Check the expiry date hasn't passed
• Verify total promotional amount doesn't exceed balance

Getting Help

If something doesn't look right, start by checking your promotional segment setup and verifying your transfer offer details match what your lender sent. For anything else, reach out to support via the user menu in the sidebar.

What's Next?

• Plan your financial future to see how credit card management fits your wider goals
• Track your financial health with key metrics including credit utilisation
• Personalise your settings for accurate projections